A professional matchmaker is urging Canadians to be aware of the impact new technologies such as artificial intelligence are having on the rising incidence of online dating fraud.Walter, who runsin Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, pointed out profiles can look and sound so realistic that they can easily fool people into believing they’re legitimate.
Fraudsters start with picking from a long list of computer-generated photos of the “perfect” man or woman, and then add on “desirable” qualifications and build a profile from there. Walter said everything from eye and hair colour to ethnicity can be included, even “conversation tone.”Story continues below advertisement
She said AI programs can also take some of the usual “red flags” — such as spelling mistakes and bad grammar — out of the text, making them harder to detect as fakes. But again, she said, that’s exactly what they are.